19 Comments

One down, more to go! I think it’s a good thing that Madson declined. He would be good trade bait at the deadline. As well as he erformed in the post season(which was spetacular), I still don’t know how reliable he will be long term. Also, after the expirament with him in the starting rotation a few years back, Madson has been known to be easily rattled for extended periods. I think 3 years would have been too long for him, however, 4 mil a year sounds about right. Unless he’s throwing high 90’s all season long, he will be hard pressed to get much more than that anywhere else.

Good move – Lock up the guys who won’t cost a ton first, see where you are at, then make Hamels an offer. I would hold off on Howard, see where he is next year, then either trade him, or give him a 3-4 year deal.

According to mlbtraderumors, we just inked Hamels to a 3 years deal worth 20.5 million. I thought we might try to sign him long term after we made our moves on Victorino and Werth, or settle arbitration this year and sign a long term deal after this season. Who knows, maybe after 2009, Hamels would have been asking for a lot more.

I like the Hamels move, too. He’s only had one full injury-free season, so this is a relatively low-risk way to lock him up for awhile without having to worry about Ryan Howard-esque arbitration raises. Look at how much Howard got last year and he’s not as consistent as Hamels. We locked up our ace for three years Based on the experiences the Phils have had with arbitration in the past, this is a good move.

Buying out Hamels arb years is a Smart Move and it shows a good gesture. Theyre getting him a little cheap I think actually, because I thought hed make more in arb this year than 4.35M this year. It allows them to have a year or two of breathing space before having to start work on a long-term extension to cover the some of free agency years.

Howard is a free agent in two years…itd be nice to get him off the books before that so they could come up with long term deals for werth and victorino and maybe even myers or blanton. madsons already gone after this year that much is clear. i have to think amaro is working on multiyear deals for victorino and werth as well.

Dobbs… great move. One of the best LH utility/pinch hitters in the game.

Hamels… good gesture.

I think that this speaks volumes about where this organization has come. I mean, it has always been about working the system… understanding that you don’t need to sign players that are under control (all that does is increase your risk). What you end up with, though, are players that might not be eager to go that extra mile… you end up with unhappy players in April (players that are undoubtedly still thinking about the arbitration process). I honestly did not think they would sign Hamels beyond one year. Now that they did, I think that this relays a message to the team that the Phillies are committed to keeping the nucleus of this team in tact. They’re going to get another shot to win a championship together and we should be happy about that.